OK, A question for any of you painter types out there. My grandma, may she rest in peace, was a apinter and a very good one at that. I've got 21 of her paintings hanging about my house. Recently while cleaning out the barn, I found one of her earlier works. In all truthfulness, she probably put it out there because she didn't think it was that good. Anyway, I'd like to preserve it. It's done in either oil or acrylic with some really nice blues, reds and greens. But it's also caked with some dirt as well. More than likely the dirt consists of regular old dirt and chicken shit. Any idea how I can get the dirt off without destroying the paint underneath?

Deb fell in the kitchen last night. She'd gone inside to get something while we were raking the back yard. She slipped on a throw rug on her way abck out and fell backwards, hurting her hip. One of her cleaner comments was "Ohhhhhh, I wish I was 20 again!" To which I replied, "So do I, then I would be sleeping with a 20 year-old instead of a 31 year-old!" So I'm still trying to appologize my way out of that one today.